THE BONE EATER

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus, Linnaeus 1784) is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, the only species of the genus Gypaetus. It is a vulture of the Old World and is the largest among those nesting in Europe, with a wingspan between 265 and 285 cm and a length between 100 and 115 cm. Like other vultures, it is a scavenger that it feeds mainly on carcasses of dead animals, and has a highly specialized diet feeding especially on bone and bone marrow. His typical behaviour is to drop the bones of carcasses from great heights, to shatter them and then eat them.